Toy merchandise car



April 14, 1953 R. G. SMITH 2,634,551

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5 /5 /fZJ z5 Lt W T ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to toy merchandise cars and is more particularly directed toward cars having electromagnetically operated mechanism whereby round objects such as toy barrels or drums can be delivered from the car to an unloading platform.

According to the present invention the car is provided with a storage magazine having a bottom sloping in the direction of the length of the car and down which the round objects are adapted to roll. The magazine is provided with an escapement mechanism which permits the release of one article at a time, and the released article is allowed to drop into an accessoryT toy vehicle designed for example to appear as a hand truck. On energization of an electromagnet, the hand truck with load is shifted from inside the car to the edge of the car. The hand truck carries a movable abutment or wall which is held up while the truck is in the car so that the round object is retained in the toy truck. This movable wall is released when the toy truck passes slightly beyond the side edge of the car and the abutment then lowers so that the toy barrel or the like is allowed to roll away from the car.

The invention also contemplates that the toy will be provided with an unloading platform alongside the toy car spaced from it a suitable distance and the movable wall of the toy truck is arranged to fall down onto the unloading platform so that the toy barrel or the like rolls over onto the unloading platform.

Upon deenergization of the magnet a spring returns the truck into the car, the abutment is elevated and held up and the truck at the end of itsl inward movement operates the escapement mechanism to release another object which drops into the truck.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

The accompanying drawings show, for purposes of illustrating the present invention, an embodiment in which the invention may taken form, it being understood that the drawings are illustrative of the invention rather than limiting the same.

Figure 1 is a top plan view on a small scale illustrating a toy car and platform;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the unloading mechanism showing the parts in normal position with the magazine empty;

Figure 3 is a top plan view with the parts shifted to unloading position;

Figure 41s a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 2 showing articles in the magazine and an article on the unloading truck;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2 showing the escapement mechanism released and in position so as to intercept the articles in the magazine.

Figure 6 is a sectional View on the line 6--6 of Figure 2; and

Figure '7 is a section on the line I-'I of Figures 1 and 3.

In the drawings a toy car is indicated generally at Ill and an unloading platform at II. The platform may be of the type shown more fully in my Patent No. 2,444,961, granted July The chute or storage magazine I2 is arranged at one end of the car near the side opposite the door opening indicated at I3. The chute I2 is made up of two pieces of sheet metal I4 and I5. The piece i4 has a base I6 secured to the platform I I of the car by bolts indicated at I8 and a top ange i9 which provides a cover for the chute. The piece I5 is secured to the upright piece I4 by bolts indicated at I5'. It has a sloping bottom wall forming portion 2li and side and end wall portions 2I and 22. The parts I4 and I5, carry by means of a pivot pin 23, an escapement device 24 which has a pocket-like element 25 adapted when in the position of Figure 4 to intercept the rolling objects B in the chute.

A solenoid coil 3i! is mounted between brackets SI and 32 carried by an angle-shaped frame member 33 which is secured to the platform of the car by bolts indicated at 34. The solenoid has a plunger 35 which is shifted from the position shown in Figures 2 and 6 to a position shown in Figure 3 when current is applied. The plunger 35 is connected to a slider 3S and is surrounded by a restoring spring 31. The slider 36 has a transverse slotv 38 which receives a pin 39 on a sweep arm 40 so that this arm is swung from the position of Figure 2 to the position of Figure 3 when the coil is energized.

The arm 4B carries an upright member 4I having two forwardly bent arm-like portions 42 and a head-like portion 43 so as to simulate a gure of a man pushing a truck. The headlike portion 43 is so located that, when the parts are as shown in Figures 2 and 4, itis under the escapement element 24 and holds it up as indicated. The arm or oscillatory member 40 is provided with upwardly bent ears 44 to receive a shaft 45, the arms 42 carry a shaft 46 and between the shafts 45 and 46 is mounted the body member 4'I of a toy hand truck. The lower end of this body member carries a shaft 48 on which is mounted an abutment member 49 having a tail piece 50. Wheels are carried on the shaft 45. When the parts are retracted as in Figures2 and 4 the tail piece 50 holds the abutment member 49 up and when they are protracted as in Figures 3 and 7, the tail piece passes beyond the side of the car and the abutment member 49 is released to drop down.

When the device is to be operated the car is loaded by placing a number of round objects such as balls or cylinders in the magazine. On the first operation of the solenoid the toy truck is swung from the position of Figure 2 to that of Figure 3 and this allows the escapement mechanism to drop into position as shown in Figure 5. One of the objects can then roll down into the escapement mechanism where it is stopped and held against further movement. On the re turn of the toy truck the escapement mechanism is pushed back to the position of Figure 4 and the object rolls out of the chute onto the toy trucl ready for delivery to the unloading platjgrm at'the next energization.

:The mechanism carried on the car will be received in a car body so as to be concealed. The

operation .may be remotely controlled.

Since it is obvious that the invention may be f embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the claims, I Wish it to be under- =stood that the particular form shown is but one Of these forms, and various modications and changes being possible, I do not otherwise limit .myself in -any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

l. In Combination, a toy railroad track, a toy car having trucks on the track and a car platform ered, to span the space between the car and the unloading platform, the movable member having a depending element engaged with the car plat- 4form when the receptacle is in normal position andaeting to hold the movable member up and movablebeyond the car platform when the inevable member is beyond the side. of the car and thenreleasing the movable. member so that the receptacle opens, andmeans` to. restore the. movable member to up position when the receptacle is `returned.

2./ The combination of claim 1, wherein the car has a magazine with a sloping bottom located to discharge articles to the movable receptacle, and an escapement Vmechanism limiting the release from the magazine to a single article.

3. A toy vehicle having a magazine with a downwardly sloping bottom extending lengthwise thereof and near one side thereof, an escapement device for releasing the lowermost article in the magazine and biased in a direction to hold back other articles therein, an arm carried below the discharge end of the magazine for oscillation about a vertical axis near the other side of the vehicle, a spring biasing the arm to an inner position, arm-carried means for actuating the escapement device to release the lowermost article when the arm is in its inner position, a receptacle carried by the arm and disposed in position to receive the released article, and electro-magnetic means to swing the arm outwardly to carry the receptacle to the other side of the vehicle and outside the vehicle for delivery of the article laterally of the car.

4. A toy vehicle as claimed in claim 3, wherein the receptacle has a fixed lower wall sloping in the direction of its movement Aby the electromagnet and a movable retaining wall, and having cani means to release the retaining wall at the end of the outward swing.

5. A toy freight car having a car platform, an unloading platform alongside the car, the unloading platform being at the same level as the car platform and spaced from it to provide a gap, a car carried unloading device, means to move the device from the interior of the car to a side edge of the car platform, a magazine adapted to carry articles to be unloaded, means to discharge an article from the magazine to the unloading device when it is interior of the car, the unloading device having a fixed sloping bottom and a movable retaining wall gravity biased toward a lowered position, and means normally holding the retaining wall up when the unloading device is inside of the car, said means including a member normally in contact with the car body and moved out of contact with the car body in respense to movement of the vunloading device Vto its position at the edge of the car platform, the retaining wall when released extending across the gap so that the article on the unloading device may shift over onto the unloading platform.

6. A tov car for transporting and unloading round toy objects, said car having a storage magazine with a sloping bottom down which the articles may roll, an escapement mechanism limiting the discharge to a single article, an accessory toy vehicle movably carried within the car, the accessory vehicle having a sloping bottom and a movable retaining wall gravity biased toward a lowered position, an arm for shifting the accessory vehicle from a position where the sloping bottom is below the escapement mechanism to receive the released object when the escapement mechanism s actuated to release the ob- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS- Number Name Date 733,584 Hoffmann July 14, 1903 2,302,142

Perm Nov. 17. 1942 

